Palin is a Zen Master

Palin is a master of not doing by doing:

But Palin said she had adopted a philosophical attitude on the downside of the spotlight. “You have to let it go,” she said. “Even hard news sources, credible news sources — the comment about, you can see Russia from Alaska. You can! You can see Russia from Alaska. Something like that — a factual statement that was taken out of context and mocked — what you have to do is let that go.”

Yes.  Let it go by complaining incessantly about it.  How deliciously Zen!

(image source)

Time to Put the PUMA Out For the Night

sm77 at PUMA blog the Confluence sums up their irrelevance in a goodbye post (emphasis mine):

To think we waited 8 years PRAYING for a Democratic President.  Well now we have one and I still feel the same.   But as a true, firebrand, loud and hellacious liberal who endured the Dubya years, my job is to dislike the president and critique anything and everything the president does.   So it’s not like things have changed much.  Instead of a “W” now we have an “O.”   Instead of obsessively myopic Evangelicals, we have obsessively myopic Obamacrats.  Meet the new boss, same as the old.

PUMA power couldn’t resist going out with one last bang of ironic detachment from reality.  McCain, affectionally dubbed McSame, was cast out in enthusiastic favor of Obama.  The sense I got, reflecting on the vitriol sent our way by McCain/Palin supporters with those who supported Obama, Edwards, and Clinton during the primary season, was that we all had won.  The 18 million strong turned out to be a couple hundred vocal pundits and bloggers after all.

Meanwhile the candidates who stood for the same principals and policies as Hillary Clinton carried the day, defeating the heir to Bush’s self styled throne and the Cheney loving anti-feminist he picked as a “fuck you nod” to disaffected Clinton supporters.

Now is the time to recognize what Obama stands for, and to take up the banner he shares with Clinton and help bring progress to this great nation of ours.  Now is the time to leave PUMA behind, and follow Hillary Clinton’s lead and support our new President.

Against Jewish Republicans

Jews who support the modern Republican party have long been a target of condemnation in my family, idiots like Lieberman at the fore.  The reason for this is quite simple.  Republican Jews have successfully replaced the notion of Jewish identity with one of Israeli identity.  For them the first question is “will this be good for Israel”, and not “will this be good for my people”.  This is a crucial twist, and one that reveals a very ugly truth about their naivete.

The Republican party is made up of a couple of factions, each defined largely by fundamentalist Christianity, corporatism, or nativism.  Sarah Palin’s existence on the ticket is as clear a reinforcement of the Republican party’s commitment to a Christian Nation as one could imagine.  Which reminds me of the scene in Borat where Jim Smith (a state supreme court Chief Justice in Mississippi currently running for re-election) claims that this is a Christian Nation.  The Republican party is one that actively strengthens the union between the Christian church and our state.  They are also a party that regularly engages in anti-semitism.  Real anti-semitism, where warnings against “New York liberals” suffice as thinly coded language against Jews.  Not the false anti-semitism of standing up to Israel when it goes too far against the Palestinians.

When I read this at the Huffington Post, it became clear that the Republican Jewish Coalition represents the very worst of Conservative Jewish politics (conservative as in Republican, not conservative Judaism) (From Talking Points Memo):

“Concerned about Barack Obama? You should be,” the mailer warns. “History has shown that a naive and weak foreign policy has resulted in tragic outcomes for the Jewish people.”

The mailer helpfully notes that the image is a pic of Obama speaking in Germany.

Tragic outcomes for the Jewish people, throughout history, have been linked to fascism and religious fundamentalism.  Yet Republican Jews support a party that is hell bent on writing the Christian Bible into our legal code.  The stunning idiocy of this support is every bit as shocking as finding support among the working poor for Republican economic policy.

A McCain/Palin Presidency, endorsed by Dick Cheney, represents walking further down the path of eroding civil rights, constant warfare, and the politics of fear.  It is a clear invitation for fascism to fulfill Sinclair Lewis’s prediction and come to America wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

When that happens, how does the Republican Jewish Coalition imagine the Jewish people will be treated?

Palin and the Prime Minister of Quebec: Pals 4Eva

This is priceless (Transcript):

A: Some people said in the last days and I thought that was mean that you weren’t experienced enough in foreign relations and you know that’s completely false. That’s the thing that I said to my great friend, the prime minister of Canada Stef Carse.

P: Well, he’s doing fine, too, and yeah, when you come into a position underestimated it gives you an opportunity to prove the pundits and the critics wrong. You work that much harder.

A: I was wondering because you are so next to him, one of my good friends, the prime minister of Quebec, Mr. Richard Z. Sirois, have you met him recently? Did he come to one of your rallies?

P: I haven’t seen him at one of the rallies but it’s been great working with the Canadian officials. I know as governor we have a great co-operative effort there as we work on all of our resource-development projects.

The campaign’s response (The Politico via HuffPost):

“Gov. Palin received a phone call on Saturday from a French Canadian talk show host claiming to be French President Nicholas Sarkozy,” emailed spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt. “Gov. Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy, and other celebrities in being targeted by these pranksters. C’est la vie.”

C’est la vie.  In 4 years a foreign policy maven she will not be.

The prime minister of Canada is Stephen Harper.

The premier of Quebec is Jean Charest.

Buyer’s Remorse on McCain

As the race tightens, Alexander Mooney over at CNN Political Ticker speculates voters who have not yet voted may be experiencing a kind of buyers remorse:

“It’s possible that McCain will continue to close the gap over the final few days of the campaign,” said CNN Senior Political Researcher Alan Silverleib. “Presidential elections often tighten up at the end, especially if there’s not an incumbent on the ballot. Voters sometimes experience a degree of ‘buyer’s remorse’ before settling on a new president.”

That doesn’t sound like buyer’s remorse to me.  It sounds like undecided voters still swinging.

Now this on the other hand (via Jesse Taylor at Pandagon), sounds like real buyer’s remorse (Iowa State Daily):

Elborno said even McCain supporters were among those being asked to leave.

“I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,’” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”

Do Republicans who support the attacks on our constitutional rights cry when those same policies come back to bite them in the ass?  Do they experience shock, or buyer’s remorse?  I wonder if it is the latter.

Who do you know who buys a crappy used car from a shady dealership, and after going into debt trying to fix it (and getting hurt when the airbags failed to deploy) goes back to the same damn dealer for an older model?

Not In Front of My Retarded Baby!

This photo from the Chicago Tribune appears to be channeling the Onion:

Could you please stop tearing apart my record so loudly? I just put my special needs child down for a nap. You remember my poor, Down syndrome baby, don’t you? The developmentally disabled child I carried to term despite knowing that he had special needs? The child who would be helpless without my constant care and attention? Well, he’s just nodded off, and if you continue to provide such damning evidence of my inexperience in both foreign and domestic policy, you’ll wake him.

You wouldn’t want him to start crying, would you?

The actual article up at the Tribune consists of Palin lamenting the publicity around her $150,000 fashion sense:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin insisted in an interview with the Tribune on Thursday that she did not accept $150,000 worth of designer clothes from the Republican Party and “that is not who we are.”

“That whole thing is just, bad!” she said. “Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are.

“It’s kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported,” said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention. Still, she has been wearing pricey clothes at campaign events this fall. She said they will be given back, auctioned off or sent to charity.

Palin appears to be relying on her party faithful’s mistrust of the media and trust in her to override her spending spree.

Most of them, she said, haven’t even left the belly of her campaign plane.

Got that?  Most of them aren’t even being used for the campaign.  They are straight up being wasted, and Govenor Palin is attempting to use that to mollify her supporters.  Nothing calms an irate Republican like wasteful spending.

Shhhhhhhhhhh!

Oh I’m sorry governor, did I say that in front of your little bundle of political opportunity?

I’ll say this next part in just the gentlest whisper:  It appears McCain and the RNC think the money was well spent.

Theocrats: Don’t Tread on Me

I’ve got a post over at Revolutionary Act on Republicans, Gay Marriage, Palin, and Theocracy.  You are all warmly encouraged to drop by and share your voice.

Please Let Palin Speak More

Given Palin’s strong support for Bush/Cheney executive power grabs, it isn’t clear whether this is her usual ignorance or lust for power on display.  Via Think Progress:

Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. In response to a question sent to the network by a third grader at a local elementary school about what the Vice President does, Palin erroneously argued that the Vice President is “in charge of the United States Senate“:

Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, “What does the Vice President do?”

PALIN: That’s something that Piper would ask me! … [T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.

She doesn’t belong anywhere near public office.

Every time she speaks she makes this clearer.

CNN Political Ticker:

(CNN) — Conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh Monday strongly defended his recent remark that Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama largely because of race, and lashed out at members of the media and Democrats for appearing to take issue with his comment.

“So what if it’s race?” Limbaugh said on his radio show. “Why is it so hard to admit that it’s race…What’s so problematic about admitting it?”

Nice reframe.  It isn’t about the problem of “admitting” its about race.  Its about how fucking slimy it is to attempt to cut down the endorsement of a highly respected public official by appealing to paranoid racists.

I can understand why Rush did it.  The endorsement is a final nail in McCain’s coffin.  A very respected Republican who enjoys high approval ratings across party affiliation with a distinguished career of public and military service absolutely gutted McCain’s rationale for running.

The Republicans have nothing left to except finally trot out Palin for a surprise press conference and hope her incoherent babbling distracts us.  Barring that kind of surprise, I suppose Rush though racist appeals were a good stand in.

ObamaBiden Tax Calculator

I think this is a wicked awesome idea.  A website with a tax calculator to let you see how you’d fare under the tax plans for each candidate.

Here’s a few fun figures:

If you are over 65, married (joint file), have a combined income of 20,000, 3+ dependents, are saving for retirement, have childcare expenses, and an outstanding mortgage of $250,000, the results are:

Obama: $3,327    McCain: $0

Ok, so maybe you are filing as the head of the household, make between 50 and 70 thousand a year, have two kids, college expenses, and a mortgage of $50,000:

Obama: $805     McCain: $270

How about you make 75,000-100,000 a year, are single, have no dependents, college expenses, or mortgage?

Obama: $250     McCain: $0

To be fair, it doesn’t calculate taxes for income above $200,000 a year.  For all the Republican faithful like to make noise about Democrats raising taxes, its pretty clear who will actually lower taxes where it counts.

Palin Abused Power: This Should Sink McCain

Sarah Palin abused power, and the way the McCain campaign has handled this fits a pattern:

Time and again both McCain and Palin have showed a deep rift with reality and a zealous lack of hesistation in driving arrogantly ahead regardless.  America now has a clear picture of how team McCain will govern if they win the White House in November.

The McCain Palin team has zero credibility left at this point.  Anyone still supporting McCain and Palin is not paying attention.

Fred Thompson Trips Over Himself Endorsing Palin

Summing up much of what’s wrong with the conservative mindset, conservatives for McCain points us to a Thompson’s endorsement of Sarah Palin up on townhall:

If Fred said it, that’s good enough for me.  Period.

Replace Fred with Bush and you have the last eight years wrapped up.  Let’s take a look at Thompson’s endorsement:

When John McCain selected Governor Sarah Palin, as his running mate, the Democrats and their far-left constituency let out a primal scream that could be heard from sea to shining sea. How dare he choose someone that they and their pals in the media had not had a chance to vet (i.e. libel, slander, and otherwise and otherwise eviscerate).

Starting off with an old man’s tenacious strength, Thompson misses the point and runs smack into the wall.  The problem was that McCain’s campaign didn’t vet the vp candidate.  Vetting is done so that when the media (and one’s opponents) get to work, you’re ready to handle whatever they can throw at you.  Obama was ready to handle attacks on Biden.  McCain floundered.  Great for Democrats watching it go down, but on the whole evidence of McCain’s lack of good judgment.

For a while there it seems the fact that so many uninformed yahoos (average people) love her was going to drive the main stream media nuts

Can’t speak for the mainstream media here, but it isn’t average Americans who love Palin.  Her singular consituency is the extreme of the religious right.  The people who think rape, incest, and medical necessity are not reasons for an abortion.  Amercians who want to deny homosexuals equal rights.  Voters who want to see creationism in our schools and evolution in the history books alongside global warming under “crackpot moonbat theories”.  Most of America is kind of freaking out that she was even picked.

Apparently what no one counted on was that a politician like this would actually show up on the national scene. The media was caught by surprise. The media doesn’t like surprises.

The media loves surprises.  Surprises drive news cycles, bringing in attention and advertising dollars.  (emphasis mine):

Wall Street and Washington were full of people who were “qualified and experienced” in the field of finance. Sen. Barack Obama, for one, has a great deal of experience in the housing field. So do many of his closest advisers. I would have traded some of that experience for a few more leaders with less experience and more courage to buck the establishment and tell the truth about what was happening.

Did you expect Thompson to make such a deliciously ironic statment?  Now I’m not in the media but I love the heck out of that sentence.  Do you think if Thompson concentrates just as hard as he can, a few situations over the past eight years might pop up where those words might have applied?

The angle of Thompson’s endorsement is “Heck guys Palin don’t need experience when she’s got fire in her belly”.  Thompson could literally pan Obama for being too inexperienced one day and praise Palin for being inexperienced the next.  So that’s just what he did:

Sen. Fred Thompson took aim at Barack Obama’s experience tonight in a sharp attack during the Republican convention. “The Democrats present a history-making nominee for president,” Thompson said. “History-making in that he is the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee to ever run for president.”

Fred Thompson phoned in his endorsement without bothering to check its validity.  Fortunately for him conservatives are listening raptly regardless of what he says.

Palin’s Gay Friend

Palin’s Gay excuse-friend  confirms the McCain Palin campaign’s stacking doll status.  McCain has a female VP so his anti-woman policies and personal history is ok.  Palin has a Gay friend who made a “choice”, so she can get her hate on guilt free.

It isn’t surprising that the Alaska governor, who doubts evolution and global warming, would also choose a “shut your eyes and just believe” approach to homosexuality’s lack of a biological basis.  (Although her ignorance on the subject makes you wonder how close she is with her supposed “best” friend).

Palin is McCain’s Weakpoint

Pressure is building on Palin, and McCain has nowhere to go as she brings his campaign down from the inside (FiveThirtyEight):

It’s important to reinforce what Nate wrote Sunday night. Not gonna happen. It would be overt surrender. As most of you know, I’ve been on the road for the past three weeks, so far visiting at least a dozen McCain campaign offices in six battleground states as well as Palin’s first solo rally in Carson City, Nevada. If McCain dumps Palin, it is over.

McCain is incredibly vulnerable on his VP pick.  Her interviews with Katie Couric have revealed a politician who’d readily cheat off Bush in an exam.  As the electorate begins to fret over McCain’s health, the second in line for the throne is reminding people how much worse it can get.

Palin is last-ditch effort to win over religious conservatives at all costs.  And while her singular focus on Roe might help with that crowd at the expense of socially liberal conservatives and independents, the sheer intensity of her faith and its clear impact on her governing might push many religious conservatives away.  Is it any wonder a young earth creationist rejects global warming?  Are we surpised a woman who’se church persecutes people for suspected witchcraft might support fascist or theorcatic governing?

McCain has made a politically fatal choice, and the first debate will drive that home with voters.  McCain threw a wild punch and now he’s wide open.  Democrats need to close in for the knock-out.

Sarah Palin: Staggering Idiot

Check out the SNL Parody of Palin’s interview with Katie Couric.

Here’s a short piece from the real thing:

Transcript.

To quote Andrew Sullivan:

How does McCain win an election with a national joke as his running-mate?

What’s more interesting, to me, is why so many Americans have such a positive view of Palin, and are closer to voting for McCain because of her involvement in the race.